Warrior to Warrior
by wikelia
Summary: Set during season 6 of Race to the Edge. "I don't recall signing up for you to tell me who you think I am." "Dagur's gifts are free, baby." Oneshot.


"You know, I really don't get it."

Astrid yelped as the voice surprised her, making her aim awry and sending her axe flying up until it landed with a thunk into a high tree.

She scowled, and turned to give the person who spoke a piece of her mind, but stepped back when she saw…

Dagur?

"I don't like it when people sneak up on me." She frowned, already on guard. She'd known he was visiting the Edge, but there was a difference between visiting and lurking, and Dagur was definitely doing the latter in the shadows there.

"I don't get it," Dagur said again, completely ignoring her.

Astrid scowled again. That son of a half eaten goblin.

"Pray tell, what can I explain for you?"

He grinned and walked forward, looking up to where her axe was. "I don't understand how someone as tiny as you could seriously swing that thing around."

"I'm not tiny," Astrid said through gritted teeth, her fists clenching.

"I mean, you're not big, blondie."

"Big enough to flip you over, your Majesty," she shot back sarcastically.

This seemed to be very amusing to him, because he started cackling. "Oh! I remember that day! Not only did you flip me over, you blew me up!"

"A great day indeed," Astrid muttered before walking up to the tree.

She really, really disliked Dagur the Deranged. Or not-so deranged anymore. Whatever. Just because they were supposed to believe he was on their side now didn't mean that she had to like him, or want him around.

She started to climb the tree, using her boots to boost her up and ignoring the little cuts and scratches forming on her hands. Typically, in a situation like this, Stormfly would simply fly her up to get the axe, but her dragon wasn't there, she was sleeping in the stables. And she needed a reason to get away from Dagur.

"You can leave now!"

"I don't think I will!" he called back. "Too busy...enjoying the view."

Astrid nearly slipped and gasped loudly before shooting a glare down at Dagur, who was snickering as he stared up at her. She grabbed her axe and tugged it out of the tree bark firmly before making her way back down.

"I can't believe you spend hours upon hours killing trees," he said, leaning against the tree behind him as he smirked at her.

Wisely choosing not to respond that she didn't kill trees, Astrid rolled her eyes. "Listen, just because Hiccup is busy inventing or whatever, doesn't mean you can come bother me, so -"

"Hiccup isn't busy," Dagur interrupted, his smirk growing even wider.

Something in her stomach jumped, but she ignored it in favor of glaring him down.

"Do you not trust me, blondie?"

"Why would I have any reason not to trust you?" Astrid scoffed. "It's not like you've tried to kill me and my best friends multiple times."

"I've also saved you," he shot back. "You know, everyone here seems to have accepted me. But you just can't. No matter what I do. Even Hiccup's approved me, and I thought you were his girl, so whatever he thought, you thought."

"What?" Her eyes narrowed dangerously and he raised his hands above his head.

"When I was bad! I thought that when I was bad. Not anymore. I see now that you are your own person. Please don't slice me in half." He slowly lowered his hands and coughed into his fist awkwardly before continuing. "Anyway, I just thought that, by now, you wouldn't be so cold with me. But I think I've figured you out."

"You have, huh?" she asked in a voice that was just daring him to keep going.

He didn't seem to get the hint. "Yeah. You're not just cold with me. You're cold with everyone. Like, your friends included. Because everyone freaks out when you're not completely serious. If you care so much about your gang and still act that way with them, then what am I supposed to expect, right?"

"Are you done?" Astrid dropped the axe and crossed her arms, irritated by how accurately he'd put it. "I don't recall signing up for you to tell me who you think I am."

"Dagur's gifts are free, baby."

"Ugh." She mimed vomiting before picking up her axe and walking away from him.

He still didn't seem to get it, and instead, followed after her. "So, why did you and Hiccup end things?"

That hit a nerve, and she turned to him and snapped, "How would you feel if I asked you personal questions about your life?"

"There is nothing you could ask me that I wouldn't be willing to tell." Dagur shrugged.

Astrid thought for a few seconds, with her eyes trained on him, and then asked, "What really made you change sides?"

Dagur stopped in his tracks and his eyes narrowed. Astrid smirked, tossing her braid over her shoulder and continuing to walk. She didn't get three feet away before he spoke.

"Why do you think I did it?"

Astrid turned to him and raised a brow. "Viggo and Ryker turned against you. You had no choice. You had to run, and your chances of winning looked better with us."

"Oh, come on." He crossed his arms, and Astrid only glanced down at his arms (muscles, to be exact) once. "That's ridiculous. I'm deranged. I don't care who the winning side is. Something better."

"Fine. I don't know, and I don't care. I just don't trust you." She sighed. "Now would you leave me alone?"

Dagur stepped closer to her and waited until she was looking into his eyes. "Heather, blondie. Heather was the reason I changed sides."

"And why the sudden love for dragons?" She shrugged, accepting the explanation (Dagur had shown multiple times that he would do anything for Heather). It made sense, but only for a portion of what he did.

"If you were constantly fighting people who had cool pets to ride on - don't look at me like that, I know they're not pets, but I didn't know that then - if you saw that all the time, you'd develop some respect for them too. I mean, where did your love of dragons come from? I remember you being Hel bent on killing dragons when I visited Berk." Dagur looked smug, as though he had her completely trapped.

"I was Hel bent on protecting Berk, not killing dragons." She rolled her eyes - clearly, he didn't know her as well as he thought. "When Hiccup showed me that we didn't need to risk our lives to keep ourselves safe, I agreed with him. Simple as that. But you, your Majesty, you killed dragons for sport."

"I was a Berserker, blondie, what did you expect?"

"Not for you to become some kind of hero, obviously."

"Okay, so maybe I was a little jealous."

Astrid smirked victoriously - that was more like it. "Of Hiccup?"

"No, of the chicken. Yes, obviously of Hiccup. He and Toothless had some sort of friendship, some connection, that I could only wish I had with someone. I was...obsessed with it." Dagur looked down as though reminiscing.

She paused for a second, when she realized that those feelings weren't far off from her own at some point.

"I…" she began hesitantly. "I guess I get that. Hiccup and Toothless's bond is something else, something out of this world." She shrugged, hefting her axe over her shoulder. "I've been jealous of them too. Me and Stormfly could never be that close."

They were both quiet for a second until Dagur raised his head and smirked at her, leaning forward and making her take a step back.

"Now, blondie, it's your turn to tell me why you and Hiccup broke up." When she opened her mouth to protest, Dagur waggled his finger. "Ah ah ah, I gave you my answer, I expect the favor returned."

Astrid growled in her throat, but she couldn't deny that it would be unfair to interrogate him and then not even give him this ultimately insignificant information.

"We're better as friends." She sighed, turning around abruptly and throwing her axe as hard as she could, where it landed satisfyingly deeply inside a tree trunk. "He's a little too considerate of me, and it was ruining our dynamic. Not to mention the group dynamic. It's better like this."

She was about to go retrieve her axe when an arm snaked around her waist and turned her around. Astrid gasped, ready to break Dagur's arm for even thinking of laying his hands on her, but was interrupted by him firmly pressing his lips on her's.

The kiss was absolutely nothing like the ones she shared with Hiccup. Dagur was rough where Hiccup was gentle, and he didn't let go of her waist for even a second, instead choosing to tug her closer.

It felt...way better than she could have ever expected from Dagur.

Her axe forgotten momentarily, Astrid slid her arms around his neck and kissed back, drawing out a pleased moan from him as he gently pushed her against a tree.

She felt his teeh scrape her lip and a rush of...something went down to her core, so it wasn't long before she mimicked him and let out a breathy moan against his lips, tugging his hair gently.

Dagur pulled back right as she was about to, the two of them gasping for air. Astrid rested her head back on the trunk and panted, looking at him in something resembling disbelief.

"I...I didn't realize talking about my breakup with Hiccup was going to get you so needy."

Dagur barked out a laugh, leaning in. When she turned her face, still trying to catch her breath, he caught her cheek, giving it a surprising sweet kiss before murmuring, "Oh, it wasn't that. It was the way you threw that axe. Trust me, I will never call you tiny again."

"Good." She didn't let him say much more before kissing his lips again, tugging his hair to pull him close. Dagur's fingers dug into her waist gently and he grinded up against her, growling a little possesively.

This definitely wasn't what Astrid had expected starting the day, but hey, she'd gotten used to dragons fairly quick.

She could definitely get used to this.


End file.
